It's A Long Story
by Livin4Jesus
Summary: Part of my Time Travel Changes Everything universe. Steve meets Pepper and Rhodey for the first time. Tony has a lot of explaining to do. One-Shot. No slash.


**A/N As promised, the first of a few one-shots that take place in my Time Travel Changes Everything universe where Steve is Tony's son. If you have not read my other stories _Steven Anthony Stark_ and _Loki Odinson,_ you might be a bit lost in places, but if you want to go ahead and read this, feel free. It should mostly make sense even if you haven't read the other stories. **

**If you are interested in reading the other stories in this series, the list of stories in this universe and the recommended reading order is available at the bottom of my profile. **

**For those who have been keeping up with my other stories, this takes place almost immediately after the ending of _Loki Odinson_. Enjoy! :)**

**It's A Long Story**

The bifrost was a huge improvement on the few methods of interplanetary travel Tony had experienced thus far. It was quite a bit smoother than the tesseract and it was insanely better than Loki's teleportation. The way Tony saw it, if the bifrost was the luxury car of traveling between planets, then the tesseract was a used, slightly beat up, but dependable car, and Loki's magic? Was a rickety old wagon flying down a rocky hill. If whoever was riding in it actually made it to the bottom without dying, then they had to deal with their brains having been completely scrambled.

However, as nice as the bifrost was, Tony still had some criticisms. Like the fact that it dropped them right where the tesseract had taken them from a month before. Translation: the five Avengers landed in the middle of Central Park. Which wouldn't have been so bad if Tony hadn't been forced to not only walk back to his tower, but also lug his suit the whole way.

Of course the car he had originally driven there was gone. He wasn't really that surprised. If a person parked an expensive car in some random place and left it for a month, it probably wouldn't be there when they next showed up. Especially when said person had a girlfriend who had likely easily found the car and had it moved back to the tower.

Tony grumbled under his breath for what had to be the tenth time as he readjusted his two handed grip on his suit.

"Here," Steve said, slinging his shield onto his back and taking the suit from Tony, easily carrying it in one hand.

That did not strike a blow to Tony's ego.

"If it's such a pain, why don't you just put it on and fly back to the tower?" Steve asked as they continued walking up the sidewalk.

It was only the two of them, Clint and Natasha having left for Shield HQ and Bruce tagging along with the two agents, saying something about needing to grab some stuff he had left there.

"What? And leave you to walk home by yourself?" Tony asked.

"I'm old enough to find my way there," Steve said. "And I know to always look both ways before crossing the street."

Tony shook his head and smirked at his son. He knew Steve was capable, but he still wasn't going to leave him behind. He also wasn't that excited to get back to the tower just yet. Not with a certain red head waiting to kill him.

Tony almost groaned at the thought of Pepper. He was _not_ looking forward to the coming conversation. Aside from the ninety-nine point nine percent likely chance that he would be getting an angry lecture, Tony also had to tell her about Steve.

How does a man tell his girlfriend about his son, who is a national hero and who he thought was dead for the last five years, but turned out was just frozen in ice for seven decades and still alive?

Yeah, Tony didn't even know how to get past the whole 'telling his girlfriend about his son' part, much less the rest of it.

"I am such a dead man," Tony groaned.

"Relax, Dad. I won't let her kill you," Steve teased.

"Gee, thanks," Tony said sarcastically. "As if I didn't already feel inferior enough, now my son is going to protect me from my girlfriend."

Steve couldn't help but laugh.

"Seriously, though," Tony said, sobering. "Are you okay with this?"

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

Tony sighed. "Pepper. Me dating her. It's the first time there's been anyone since... and I don't want you to think I'm replacing-"

"Dad," Steve said, stopping and gently gripping his father's arm.

Tony stopped as well and turned to face Steve.

"I don't think you're replacing Mom. I know you still love her and always will. But she's gone. She's been gone for almost twenty years. It's okay for you to move on and find someone to care about. You deserve to be happy. Does she make you happy?"

"Yeah. She does," Tony said.

"Then we're good."

"Thanks," Tony said. "I really think you'll like her. She doesn't look or really act like your mom, but she doesn't let me get away with anything either."

"Just like Mom," Steve said with a grin, remembering back to more than one occasion when his mom had called his dad on some of Tony's nonsense. "I'm glad you've had someone there for you these past few years. Especially someone who can put up with your crap. You need somebody like that."

"Hey!" Tony said in mock anger as they started waking again. "You're not too old to spank!"

Steve threw back his head and laughed. Tony smiled softly, reveling in the sound. It never ceased to amaze him how much joy the sound of his child's laughter could bring him.

They fell into a comfortable silence for several steps before Steve hesitantly spoke up.

"Dad... Do you think..."

"What?" Tony encouraged.

"Do you think she'll like me?"

Tony couldn't help but laugh lightly.

"You're actually worried Pepper won't like you? Steve, she's going to _love_ you."

"You think?"

"I know," Tony said, sounding absolutely certain. "That is, if I survive long enough to introduce you."

**)()()(**

Tony could have sworn his elevators moved slower than that.

Did it make him a bad boyfriend that he wished the elevator would break down and trap them for a couple hours so he could put off talking to his girlfriend a little longer? Probably.

The elevator reached the penthouse in record time (according to Tony anyway) and the doors silently opened just in time for them to hear Pepper's voice.

"I'm worried. What if something happened to him?"

She was standing near the couch, her back to the elevator, talking to Rhodey.

Oh, good! Maybe she wouldn't kill him with Rhodey there. Who was he kidding? Sure she would. And Rhodey would gladly help her hide the body.

It wasn't until Rhodey looked over her shoulder at them, his eyebrows rising in surprise, that Pepper realized someone was there and turned, her eyes instantly landing on Tony.

Her surprise quickly vanished and anger took its place.

"Where have you been?" she demanded.

Tony briefly entertained the idea of hiding behind Steve, but decided he shouldn't use his son as a shield. Although... Steve did still have his shield on his back...

Tony shook his head. Better to just face the music. Besides, not even a vibranium shield would protect him from Pepper.

"It's been a _month_ since the battle," Pepper yelled as the two men stepped off the elevator, "and you just disappeared off the face of the planet!"

Tony almost started laughing at the accuracy of that statement, but Pepper's anger kept a serious expression on his face.

"Do you know what I've been through with the company? I've been trying to keep everybody off my back while also covering for you so no one would know you were missing. For all I knew, anything could have happened, from you getting kidnapped, to you running off on some impulsive vacation or something. I was worried sick! I didn't want to cause a panic, but I was this close to calling SHIELD."

"Sorry, Pep, My trip wasn't planned and I wasn't really in a place or situation to just call you up and say hey," Tony said.

"And just what situation was that?"

"I was on another planet," Tony said slowly, very aware Pepper might kill him before he could explain.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"It's true!" Steve jumped in. "We've been on Asgard for the last month."

"We?" Rhodey asked.

"Clint, Natasha, Bruce, Thor, and the two of us," Steve clarified. "There was an issue on Asgard we needed to help out with. Really, though, if you're going to blame someone, blame me. It was my idea to go to Asgard. I felt our help was needed. Da- uh, Tony just went along with it." Steve barely hid a wince as his father's name left his mouth. It felt weird.

"You've really been on another planet all this time?" Pepper asked.

"Yes, I really have," Tony answered.

He chose to leave out the part where he and Steve had made a quick trip to Earth and he hadn't thought to call her while they were there or have Jarvis inform her. He also didn't mention that it turned out his phone actually did work on Asgard, but he hadn't known that until about an hour ago. Basically, he chose to stay alive and unmaimed.

"Well, it sounds like it was important," Pepper said.

"Trust me, you have no idea," Tony said, thinking back to everything that had happened on Asgard.

"Then I guess I can let it go," she sighed. "I just wish you could have told me before you left."

"I know and I'm sorry," Tony said, stepping forward to pull her into his arms.

"Apology accepted. Just don't do it again," Pepper said as she hugged him back.

"Great!" Rhodey exclaimed with an excited clap of his hands. "We got that sorted out. Now, can you please introduce me to Captain America?"

"Uh, yeah. About that," Tony said, shifting awkwardly. "There's something else I need to tell you guys." He sighed and decided to just come on out with it. "I have a son."

Both Rhodey and Pepper froze and Tony could practically see them running those words through their heads again to be sure they had heard right. Then, rather than look surprised, they both looked... resigned? Almost like they had hoped against it but expected it nonetheless.

Pepper sighed. "I knew this would happen someday."

Tony did his best to not feel offended by that and reminded himself that he had built up a pretty convincing persona of irresponsibility over the last several years.

"Okay, where is he? How old is he? And I swear if he's younger than two years old, you are a dead man!" Pepper threatened and even Steve felt scared at the look on her face.

"He was born _way_ before I ever met you. I promise!" Tony assured, raising his hands either in surrender, self-defense, or both. Steve wasn't really sure.

"Fine," Pepper said, relaxing a bit. "Is there a mother in the picture?"

"No..." Tony said slowly, the old, familiar pain stinging his heart. "She's dead," he said softly.

"I'm sorry about that," Pepper said sincerely. "So, will he be staying with you from now on or are you making some other arrangements?" she asked as she typed something on her phone, likely already planning out the damage control she would have to do once the news broke.

"Okay, hold on," Tony finally said, waving his hands to stop the string of questions. They were getting nowhere. "If you'll just let me explain and tell you the whole story, I think all of your questions will be answered."

"Fine," Pepper agreed, crossing her arms and looking at him expectantly.

"You're going to want to sit down for this. It's a long story," Tony said, moving over to sit down on the couch.

Steve followed, setting his shield and Tony's suit on the floor next to the couch before sitting on his father's left while Pepper sat on Tony's right.

"Should I go?" Rhodey asked, feeling like he was somehow intruding on a private conversation, while also wondering why Captain America was A, there, and B, sitting next to Tony as if they had known each other forever.

"No, you need to hear this too," Tony said, waving his friend back into his seat.

Rhodey relaxed back into the chair that was sitting to the left of the couch and he and Pepper looked at Tony expectantly.

"Where do I even start?" Tony mumbled to himself. "Okay," he sighed. "First off, no matter how strange or unbelievable this sounds, it's not a joke and it's not a lie. What I'm about to tell you is the truth."

Once Rhodey and Pepper had both nodded, Tony continued.

"Steve is my son," Tony said bluntly. Might as well rip the Band-Aid off quickly.

"Who?" Pepper asked.

Oh, right. Maybe he should have started with introducing them.

"Steve, Pepper and Rhodey. Pepper and Rhodey, Steve," Tony said motioning to each person as he said their names.

"Wait. He's..." Rhodey trailed off, his eyes growing wide as he pointed at Steve.

"He- what?" Pepper said, obviously struggling to wrap her mind around that.

"Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, is Steve Stark, my son," Tony said, wrapping his arm around Steve's shoulders.

"But that's impossible," Rhodey said, starting to freak out a little.

"No, it's complicated," Tony corrected before turning to Pepper. "First, in case it wasn't obvious, Steve was born way before I met you," he said.

"Yes, I got that, Tony. It's fine. Please continue," she said, trying to remain outwardly calm, even though she was freaking out just as much as Rhodey was.

"He was born in nineteen eighty-nine," Tony said.

"So you're," Pepper paused as she quickly did the math, "twenty-three."

"No, he's twenty," Tony said.

"Tony, nineteen eighty-nine was twenty-three years ago," Rhodey said.

"Yes, but Steve has only aged twenty years. I told you, it's complicated," Tony said.

"Dad, why don't you just start from the beginning," Steve suggested and Tony almost wanted to laugh at the expressions on Pepper's and Rhodey's faces upon hearing Steve call him dad.

Their expressions were a mixture of dumbfounded surprise, disbelief, and... Well the most apt description Tony could use was that they looked like they had somehow been transported into the Twilight Zone and were only just now realizing it.

"Good idea, Son," Tony said, adding on the 'son' purely to see his friend's and girlfriend's reactions.

One glance at Steve's fondly exasperated shake of the head told Tony his son knew exactly what he was doing, but he didn't say anything.

The reactions were priceless. Rhodey's and Pepper's jaws literally dropped open and Tony only barely kept from laughing. He wished he had a camera.

After a moment, Steve gently nudged him, breaking Tony out of his thoughts and getting him back on track.

"Right. As I was saying, Steve was born in nineteen eighty-nine. This was during the years after I fell off the map. I met a girl in college. Her name was Alia Rogers and I fell in love with her. We got married and I disappeared. My parents were already dead and I didn't want the company. I just wanted a normal life with her. Since the Internet wasn't really a thing yet, not as many people knew who I was and it was easier to disappear. I changed my name and we moved to a little town, virtually in the middle of nowhere to lessen the chances of me being recognized. Ten months later, Steve was born."

Pepper and Rhodey sat enraptured by the story. As well as they knew Tony, there was so much they had no idea about.

"For six years, we were happy. The three of us were a family. Alia and I were even going to have another child."

He paused. This part got him. Steve had always known about his mother's death, but it wasn't until he had gotten older, that Tony told him about the unborn child that had also been lost. They had never talked about it again after that, Tony finding it too painful, and Steve not wanting to remind his father of what he had lost. Even now, after so many years, Tony's heart still broke at the memory of not only losing the first love of his life, but his second child as well.

Tony had never told anyone but Steve about this part, even SHIELD didn't know about the loss of the baby, but Pepper and Rhodey deserved to know everything. So as painful as it was, Tony kept talking.

"Steve was six years old, and Alia was three months pregnant when our house caught on fire. It was a fluke thing, bad wiring or something. Steve and I survived, but Alia..."

Tony let out a shaky breath, fighting the tears that wanted to fall. Steve wrapped an arm around Tony's back and tried to offer what comfort he could as Pepper did the same by reaching out and holding Tony's hand even as tears streamed down her face. Tony leaned against Steve slightly and held on to Pepper's hand tightly. With a deep breath, Tony managed to collect himself and back away from the edge of the precipice of emotions he was teetering on.

"After that, I came back and took over the company. But I kept Steve a secret. I didn't want him to have to grow up in the spotlight, like I did. I wanted to give him the best childhood I could. Everything was pretty normal after that. Until five years ago. I was working on a project in the lab involving the tesseract."

"The thing that started an alien invasion?" Rhodey asked, his tone suggesting that Tony was out of his mind.

"I didn't know that then," Tony said. "Before we knew how dangerous it was, everyone just thought it was a valuable energy source."

"You mean the same harmless thing Red Skull used back in the war?" Rhodey asked sarcastically.

"As an energy source to power weapons he had built. Even electricity can be dangerous when it's used to power something that is," Tony defended himself.

His experiment was a touchy subject. For years, he blamed himself for his stupidity in even going near the tesseract. It had cost him everything, and if he had just left it alone, he never would have lost Steve in the first place.

Steve reached over and grabbed Tony's free hand, the one that wasn't still being held by Pepper, to help ground and calm him. If Tony gripped the hand a bit tighter than he had meant too, at least it didn't bother Steve's serum strengthened palm.

"All right. Fair point," Rhodey conceded, seeing that he had unintentionally hit a nerve. "So you were working on a project..."

"And Steve was helping me," Tony said, picking up the story again. "It was supposed to be a forcefield generator, but when we turned it on, something went wrong."

"I was hit with a blast of the tesseract's energy," Steve said. "It knocked me out and when I woke up I was in nineteen forty."

"You pretty much know the story after that. Steve became Captain America, fought Red Skull, crashed the plane to save New York, and ended up frozen in ice for the last seventy years before he was thawed out just in time for us to fight off an alien invasion. Nothing like a little father-son bonding," Tony said with a halfhearted smirk that faded quickly.

For a long moment, it was quiet as Tony let Rhodey and Pepper have a moment to absorb everything they had been told.

"But you said Steve disappeared five years ago," Pepper said after a moment. "So, for the last five years... you thought your son was dead," she said in realization.

The next thing Tony knew, Pepper was hugging him, tears once more flowing down her face. Tony hugged her back tightly.

Rhodey looked stunned at the thought. His friend had been living with unimaginable pain and carrying such a heavy burden all by himself. It explained a lot of Tony's trust issues and tendencies to push people away over the last several years. But it also explained the shadow that would sometimes creep into Tony's eyes. A shadow of pain and heartache that hurt to look at, but was usually gone so quickly it made whoever saw it wonder if they had just imagined it.

"I'm so sorry," Pepper whispered.

"It's okay, Pep. Now," Tony said, glancing at Steve.

The last five years of pain he had gone through were over. He had his son back.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Pepper asked, pulling back and wiping away her tears.

"I wanted to. Really, I did. But I didn't know how to tell you, and it just hurt so much. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I understand," she said, gently caressing his face.

Steve smiled. He had been right. Pepper was good for his father. She was exactly what he needed, and deserved.

"So, I assume the serum is what kept you alive all these years?" Rhodey asked Steve.

"Yeah, it kept the ice from killing me. It put me in a kind of stasis until SHIELD found me a few months ago and thawed me out. Of course, they had no idea who I really was. So you can imagine how surprised everyone was to find out who my dad is."

"Yeah, we traumatized poor Phil pretty good," Tony said with a grin before it faded as he remembered what had happened to the Agent.

He closed his eyes and pushed the pain away as much as possible. He was so tired of losing people he cared about, friends, family. A gentle squeeze to his shoulder brought him back to reality and he opened his eyes to see Steve's sympathetic expression. A soft smile replaced Tony's sad expression. After everyone he had lost, he had also gotten one of them back. The most important person.

Tony knew it wasn't necessarily right or fair to rank people, but he was a parent. His child would always be first in his heart.

"Did you hear..." Tony began.

"Yes. We know about Phil," Pepper said, looking like she might start crying again.

The silence was thick and heavy, the loss of a good man, a friend weighing down on them.

"So should we be welcoming you to the family, or should you be welcoming us?" Rhodey asked Steve as he motioned to Pepper and himself.

"I don't know," Steve said. "Both, maybe?"

"Okay. Welcome to the family, Steve," Rhodey said, holding out his hand.

"Right back at you," Steve said, shaking Rhodey's hand as they both chuckled.

"My turn," Pepper said, standing up.

Steve stood up as well. If the nineteen forties had taught him anything, it was how to show respect for a lady.

Steve was half expecting Pepper to offer her hand for him to shake. From everything his dad had told him about her and what little he had observed thus far, she seemed like the strong, independent, business woman type who would prefer a professional handshake. So Steve was more than a little surprised when Pepper reached out and hugged him. But it only took him a moment to get over his shock and return the embrace.

"Welcome to the family, Steve," she said. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper so only he could hear. "I'm so glad he got you back. He has a light in his eyes now that I've never seen and the darkness that he's been carrying is gone. I know it's all thanks to you."

Steve couldn't help but smile. His dad really had picked a good one.

"I'm glad he's had you these past years. He needed someone and you're really good for him. I can tell."

They pulled away but clasped each other's hands.

"Welcome to the family, Pepper," Steve said completely heartfelt.

If Pepper's eyes were shining a bit brighter than normal. He didn't mention it.

"Thank you, Steve," she said softly. "You don't know what that means to me."

No. It was Pepper who didn't have any idea what her words had meant to Steve. Or so he thought. But the look in her eyes said that maybe she did know, the same way he did. They had a kind of understanding, stemming from their mutual love for Tony. They both wanted him to be happy, and they both knew and acknowledged each other's role in that happiness.

Steve smiled at her and squeezed her hand. Pepper smiled back and some slight tension that they hadn't realized was there, faded away. Apparently, Steve hadn't been the only one nervous about whether he would be liked. It seemed once Pepper knew Tony had a son, she had been a bit nervous about how Steve might feel toward her.

Their worries had proven to be unfounded. Steve and Pepper were going to get along splendidly, united in their love for, and exasperation toward Tony, as well as their quest to keep him alive (and preferably from doing anything too stupid).

Pepper let go of Steve's hand and sat back down next to Tony, Steve doing the same on the other side of the billionaire. Tony glanced between the two of them, easily figuring out whatever had passed between his son and girlfriend. He was a genius after all, and he knew them both better than pretty much anyone.

Rhodey on the other hand, knew something significant had just happened but had no idea what. The colonel looked from Steve to Pepper and back before giving up on trying to decipher it.

"So, Steve," Rhodey said, breaking the odd silence. "Have you had any trouble readjusting to this time?"

"Actually, I had a lot more trouble adjusting from the twenty-first century to the nineteen forties than I did adjusting from the nineteen forties to the twenty-first century. This has always been where and when I belong."

"You missed the last five years, though," Rhodey pointed out. "That's got to take at least a little getting used to."

"You would think so, but, surprisingly, not that much has changed. There's a few things that I missed, but nothing too major. And there are some movies that came out in the last five years that I want to see."

_"I can play any movies you wish, Master Steve."_

Steve jumped slightly at the sound of Jarvis' voice.

_"Is everything all right?"_

"Yeah, I'm fine, Jarvis. You just startled me. I kind of forgot about you," Steve said.

_"My apologies, Master Steve."_

"No biggie," Steve said. "I'll get used to you eventually." He turned to Tony. "You really did a good job with him. He sounds almost exactly like the original Jarvis."

"Original Jarvis?" Rhodey asked. "What? Like some prototype or something?"

"Sort of," Steve said with a chuckle. "I'm talking about Jarvis, the man."

"There is an actual person that Jarvis is based off of?" Pepper asked.

"There was," Tony said. "He was my family's butler when I was growing up. He died in the same car accident that my parents did." He turned to Steve. "But that was before you were even born. How do you know what he sounded like?"

"I met him back in the forties," Steve answered. "Howard had me and some of the guys over to his place for dinner a couple times when we were stateside. I met him then. He was a good man."

"Yeah, he was. He may have technically only been our butler, but to me, he was family. He was always there for me, even when my parents weren't or couldn't be."

"That's why you gave your AI a British accent and named him Jarvis. He's a tribute to his namesake," Pepper said.

"Pretty much," Tony said with a shy shrug.

"So who is Dummy named after?" Rhodey asked with a teasing grin.

Tony laughed. "Nobody. Although, I did know this one guy in college who definitely would have fit the name. In fact, I've known a lot of people who would fit that name."

"Dad, compared to you, most of the planet would fit that name," Steve said with a roll of his eyes.

"True," Tony said with a nod before grinning.

"See what we have to put up with?" Rhodey asked Steve.

"I have no sympathy for you," Steve said. "I had to grow up with it."

"You poor dear," Pepper said, reaching around Tony to pat Steve's arm in mock pity.

"I'm right here you know," Tony said indignantly.

"We know," three voices chorused.

Tony grumbled something under his breath that sounded at lot like "Great. Now I've got three of them." but the others weren't sure.

"You know, this place is a lot nicer on the inside than the outside," Steve said, looking around the room.

"Oh, don't start with that 'this building is ugly' thing again," Tony said.

"Finally! Someone who agrees with me," Rhodey said, giving Steve a fist bump.

"It's not ugly," Pepper protested. "It's sophisticated."

"Yeah," Tony agreed. "It's sophisticated. Like me."

"You're right," Steve agreed. "If by sophisticated you mean lacking any and all sense of taste."

Rhodey snorted and Pepper stifled a chuckle while Tony gave his son an unimpressed expression, which did the exact opposite of what he had intended when it just made Steve laugh.

"I give up," Tony sighed.

"Took you long enough," Steve chuckled.

"I am so mistreated," Tony moaned.

"Yes, the lap of luxury is just so hard to endure," Steve said, putting his hand over his heart and giving his father the perfect sympathetic expression.

"Oh, shut up," Tony said, trying to hide a grin.

Steve just laughed again, Rhodey and Pepper joining in, both thoroughly enjoying the two men's antics.

"So..." Tony said, clapping his hands and trying to change the subject away from himself, "movie?"

"I could go for a movie," Pepper agreed with a shrug.

"Great!" Rhodey said. "Steve, you pick the movie, I'll get popcorn."

Rhodey stood and turned to leave the room and Steve got up to grab the TV remote, but both men were stopped as Pepper spoke.

"Hold on," she said. "Before we get started on a movie, are there any other surprises we should know about?"

"I don't think so," Tony said slowly. "Not really. I mean, Steve is my son, we're both Avengers, we helped save the world from Loki and his army, we took a trip to Asgard, we fought in an epic battle and helped to defeat a powerful and dangerous alien, thus protecting all of Asgard from certain destruction, and Loki became our friend. I think that covers it," Tony rattled off quickly.

He really needed to acquire a brain-to-mouth filter... or just learn impulse control. Whichever.

"Hold up!" Rhodey yelled. "You want to run that by us again?"

"Which part?" Tony asked with faux confusion.

"The part where the person who tried to take over our entire _planet_ is now your friend," Rhodey said.

"And I'm kind of interested in hearing about this dangerous battle you were in that I know nothing about," Pepper said, not sounding happy.

He really should have kept his mouth shut. After all, how did the saying go? What Pepper didn't know, couldn't kill him slowly and painfully? Something like that. Close enough.

"Oh, yeah. That was interesting. The craziest things happen these days. Time travel, space travel, aliens, who knew?"

"Tony," Pepper said slowly, her tone less than pleased with his stalling.

Tony sighed. "Everybody sit back down. It's a long story."

* * *

**A/N Please let me know what you thought of it! :) **

**I have a couple more Tony and Steve one-shots in the works that go along with this universe and I'm hoping to get them out before too long, but I want all of your opinions on which story you want to read first.**

**The first one-shot I'm working on is Tony and Steve centric and takes place sometime after this story. It focuses on Steve's PTSD and nightmares after the war and Tony trying to help him through it. **

**The second one-shot also takes place sometime after this story and is a shorter one about the world finally finding out about Steve being Tony's son.**

**Let me know which one you want to read first. **


End file.
